NOTD: Black Shatter!

Mar 24, 2011 • Frances

I was in ULTA the other day, buying 2 for $4 ULTA brand nail polishes and some acetone, when a bottle of OPI Black Shatter hopped off its display and into my hands. I really can't explain it.I actually wasn't sold on Black Shatter when I first saw it on blogs. Most of the time, the shatter broke into long stringy pieces and I really couldn't understand the appeal. Of course, since the bottle of polish insisted on coming home with me, I had to try to make it work. When I got home, I dumped out my nail polish bin on the living room floor and asked my friend (recovering very well from his hospital stay, and enjoying arranging colorful things as a sort of brain exercise) to pick out some color combinations for me.

To get a deeper red without sacrificing drying time, I painted one coat of Rapid Red and one coat of Valentine on all my nails. This needs to dry completely before moving on to the shatter step.

Now, the fun part! Paint each nail quickly with a thin coat of Black Shatter. Don't worry if it is patchy or uneven, the crackle effect will hide any imperfections. To get smaller, blockier chunks of shatter, I applied the polish diagonally, starting the brush at the outside edge of the nail and sweeping in and towards the tip. I included a picture in the corner of the materials shot showing the direction of the brush strokes.

Watch the shatter polish do its magic (it looks so cool!) and wait until everything is dry.